


The World for a Kiss

by earthphoenix (roughknuckles)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Implied Relationships, Last Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-29
Updated: 2007-11-29
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:39:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roughknuckles/pseuds/earthphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Implied Albus/Elphias. Short, and not so sweet. How the famous duel between the two greatest wizards of the age might have really gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The World for a Kiss

"Stop!" Gellert warned fairly, holding his hand up, showing his palm with one hand, though not relinquishing the wand in the other, which was pointed directly up, sizzling at the end. "You know what this is, don’t you? Albus. Don’t do this. You won’t win."  
  
Albus glared, not lowering his wand, "Won't I? You're responsible for the deaths of millions of muggles and gods know how many wizards." Albus's voice was frosty, as cold as his anger was searing.  
  
"Necessary obstacles to overcome, Albus, a thought, you once shared with me."  
  
"One of the very few things we ever actually shared." Albus stepped closer, long, dark red hair blowing in the wind that whipped around the two on the bridge. Dumbledore's wand pointed directly at Grindelwald's heart, "Stop. Stop your lies, Grindelwald. They won't work on me. I know what wand you possess, I know what you've done to get it, and frankly, you disgust me. Go on then, kill me now or I will pry it from your cold hand."  
  
"Albus!" Gellert shouted into the wind, "You cannot win! Not while I have the Elder Wand … just think of it, with this, now I can get The Stone, for YOU Albus, to use as you wish!"   
  
"I WANT NOTHING FROM YOU!"  
  
The silence was deafening. "Would you really kill me?" Gellert managed, his tone tempered.  
  
Albus took a deep breath, "I would not have come if I were not prepared to do that."  
  
"But would you really do it? Would you in fact kill me, rather then allow me to help you? To ... remain in your life?"  
  
Dumbledore took three steps forward, "You really don't get it, do you? I don't want your stone. I don't even want your wand except for what it would mean to the world!"  
  
"No. What would it mean to _you_?"  
  
"Nothing!" Albus glared, "Like you. Nothing."  
  
"You say you want nothing from me. Then tell me, Albus, what do you want?"  
  
Albus, shaking with fury stepped closer so that they were face to face. "I want you to suffer until you feel what you have made others feel. I want you to waste away by yourself, lonely, without another mind to poison, without any innocent children to slaughter. I want you to starve-" Albus spit, "and sob and die a miserable, horrific death when you're old and have no one. I want you to atone for everyone you've butchered."  
  
Gellert’s eyes fell to Albus’s chest, almost instinctively reaching out to touch him, to palm his shoulder and finger the front of his chest. "In return for what you want, Albus. I get a request as well."  
  
Albus swallowed, locking his jaw, his wand still at Grindewald's throat, "And what is that?" Dumbledore watched for Grindelwald to strike out with the unbeatable wand, to break free. He was ready for it.  
  
The only thing Gellert raised against Albus, were his eyes. "A kiss. Let me kiss you."  
  
Albus's eyes widened and his breath froze in his throat. "So that you can curse me to death with your arm around my back?"  
  
A flash of anguish passed Gellert’s usually sharp, hunter-green eyes. He let the wand slip from his fingers and clatter to the ground, "You have my wand and my life and all the suffering you wish me to endure. Let me kiss you good-bye."  
  
"I'm with someone else."  
  
"A kiss ... Albus. My life, for a kiss. Please."  
  
Albus reached his hand out, and the Elder wand came to him, snapping into his hand the way a wand would only come to it's master. "Why?" he asked, his breath a little unsteady.  _He wants a kiss. He gave me the wand and he wants a kiss_.  
  
Nothing had ever shaken the young man so badly, his hand trembled, as he touched Albus’s shoulder, his mouth close, lips just barely parted, begging for permission, "Because … Albus …" he swallowed roughly.  
  
Dumbledore's blue eyes darkened ominously, "Don't bother ... it's ... not true anyway."  
  
For a man who had always taken what he wanted, when he wanted it, he still waited for consent, "A kiss."  
  
 _A kiss. Elphias would understand._  A kiss for Grindelwald's surrender, for freedom in the muggle and wizarding worlds alike. "Yes." Albus nodded, whispering, granting permission for Grindelwald's strange request.  
  
"Thank you." Gellert whispered against Albus’s lips, brushing them with the tips of his fingers, parting them before he kissed him. There was no deception in this – no hiding behind lust or hunger or need – it was genuine, and gentle – a final surrender, the only way he knew to express his love to Albus Dumbledore.   
  
Albus's eyes widened and then closed and - oh gods - he kissed him back. It was better than he remembered, warmer, softer with time and Gellert's back was still slender, the curve of his waist a little thinner than before but it was Gellert and it was beautiful and Albus couldn't stop kissing him now, couldn't let go of him, couldn't stop his hands from closing in Gellert's robes and pulling him closer.  
  
Gellert gasped, arms around Albus, locking his wrists behind his back, kissing for as long as he was allowed to say _I love you_ and _good-bye_.   
  
Albus's lips parted more, allowing Gellert in, inviting him, letting one shaking hand caress his face, cupping under his jaw.  
  
Closing his eyes, Gellert whispered something against Albus’s lips before he pulled his mouth off him. His face now pressed against Albus’s neck, hugging him, having said through their kiss, his apology, expressed his love, and said good-bye. He was almost afraid to move, but he had gotten his kiss, and would remember it for the rest of his long life, while he lived it out the way Albus wished him to. Alone.  
  
Albus let out a shuddering breath, and stroked his hand through Gellert's curls one last time before he ran his hands down Gellert's arms and tapped his wrists with the Elder wand, binding them surely. "I will take you away." Albus looked at him, all the sadness in the world in his eyes. "I believe you now, and I accept your apology ... for what it is worth." He murmured before taking Gellert by his arm and leading him off the abandoned, broken bridge where they had dueled.  
  
Gellert simply nodded, but did not speak again. A stray tear of pure relief fell from Gellerts eyes, which he closed, holding on very tightly to these last moments, these last words from Albus, his love.

**Author's Note:**

> co-authored. originally written for thestralskinphoenixtears


End file.
